Morocco Unveils the Fastest Train in Africa

North African country Morocco has unveiled the fastest train in Africa which was built to reduce the travel time by half between the commercial and industrial hubs of Casablanca and Tangier. (Suns News Online)

The railway, known as the LGV, will more than half the travel time between the industrial and commercial hubs of Casablanca and Tangier to two hours and 10 minutes, instead of four hours and 45 minutes, according to officials. (Al-Jazeera)

With seven years work put into building this, King Mohammed VI and French President Emmanuel Macron boarded the train for the inaugural trip from Tangier to the capital Rabat.

The train was tested at speed of 357 km (222 miles) per hour, is planned to run at 320 km (198 miles) per hour.
This train by Morocco is about two times faster than South Africa’s high-speed Gautrain linking Johannesburg’s international airport to the city’s financial district Sandton.

It cost a total of 22.9 billion dirhams (2.4 billion dollars) to complete the project, according to the state news agency MAP.

A derailment in October near Kenitra, 15km north of Rabat, which killed seven people and injured 125 others, sparked further criticism and calls for increased funding to improve safety and infrastructure as well as the punctuality of basic railway services. (Al-Jazeera).

Also, the project didn’t come without criticism as some people in Morocco believe it was not a priority as the fund used could have been spent on education and healthcare.